Stellar Assault - 32x's Diamond in the Rough

Back in 1996 my brother and I (ages 13 and 11) had been browsing a Toys'R'Us catalog which had arrived with the Saturday junk-mail. In it was the Sega 32x, being sold for $30 and each game for about $8. Now, my family was pretty poor, and my Mom always said "we already have a sega genesis, we don't need any more game systems."
My Brother and I both said, lets ask her anyways. And to our shock, she agreed, $30 was too good even for her to deny.
So we went over the Toys 'R' Us in Concord, NH and grabbed a 32x with came with Virtua Fighter, and bought NBA Jam TE, Metal Head, and Shadow Squadron.
(Over the next few months, we also bought Virtua Racing Deluxe, Space Harrier, Knuckles Chaotix, and Doom).

Of those games, Shadow Squadron found itself on our TV screen 80% of the time.

I FUCKING LOVE SHADOW SQUADRON. Even compared to games coming out on the Playstation and Saturn, Shadow Squadron was just completely awesome. It felt like a genuine 32-bit game and it was smooth as silk. Even if it was flat shaded, it's poly count was WAY higher that many other games on other systems. Even friends who were turning to converted Sony-philes were forced to admit the game looked good.

It is now 2010. Fifteen years since Shadow Squadron was released. And I am now 27 years old. But I still have my 32x and I still have Shadow Squadron. And I still play it.

But I'm not just here to sing praises for my all-time favorite game. (That's right, I like it even better than Sega's other A-List titles). I'm also here to essentially put out a shameless plug for a personal project that I've been working on for that last 6 months.
In hind-sight its kinda amusing that 15 years later, someone has begun working on a PC-Remake of the 32x's best game. I had no intention of timing it that way, but coincidence is ofter more shocking than design.

Stellar Assault FSO is a project to Recreate Shadow Squadron on the Freespace 2 SCP Engine.
Click for full size

A lot of work as been done already. So far, I have completed Remodels for the Feather1, the Twin Claw, the Quad Cannon, the Piercer, and the Delmmer. At the moment I'm trying to import the Feather2 into the Engine as well as Model the Delta Fluke and the Booster Ship.

Here's a video of last weeks test build. There's still a lot of work yet to be done, but more than anything, I would love to get some input from people who played and loved the original as much as I did, so that I can make sure I'm doing the game proper justice in the eyes of its fans.


[edit!]This is our newest video[/edit]


I also have the Saturn version of the game in my possession, so anyone who has been wanting to try that sucker out, send over a PM.

For EVEN MORE info on the project, I've launched a ModDB page 2 days ago.
Stellar Assault @ ModDB

Please, send me your input, I'd love to hear from fellow hardcore fans on this.

Yeah, in spite of the more arcade-ish style and simpler gameplay mechanics (with relatively few missions), it plays a lot closer to some PC flight sims than contemporary console flight sims or shooters.

Too bad the Saturn game is among those to never reach the west. :(

It wasn't the only really good game on the 32x, though if you narrow it down to true exclusives (so no VR, VF, Space Harrier, AB Complete, etc), of the games considered good (not universally), you've only really got a few titles like Tempo, Kolibri, Star Wars Arcade, T-mek (the only home ports), Knuckles Chaotix, DarXide, or perhaps Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000 or Metal Head. (most of those only considdered "good" by some and DarXide haveing a very limited release)

Of the exclusives of 32x originals, Shadow Squadron is almost certainly the most universally well liked, though that's not to say a significant number of people (or the majority even) don't like some of the others more. (prefrence of genre would obviously come into play)
If you included the non-exclusives, it blurs things a bit more. (several of the best titles are ports)


Personally, SS is probably my favorite, and no surprise is it that air/space combat sims are among my favorites. ;) On the technical side, one interesting thing to note is that it's one of the few games to use the 15-bit direct color mode rather than paletized color (VR is another, I think Space Harrier is too, but I'm not sure if others used it rather than 256 paletized color mode, perhaps Virtua Fighter, maybe parts of Knuckles Chaotix)
One really interesting thing is that, unile Virtua Racing Dluxe, the prominent letterboxxing (vertical clipping) isn't present, but tactfull clipping of both horizontal and vertical display were done to minimize the visible boarder on most TVs. (much ends up in overscan on average displays)
That clipping is necessary for highcolor mode due to the limited framebuffer size of 128 kB; VR Deluxe uses 16-bit pixels in 320x204 resolution (that's 127.5 kB), while Shadow Squadron seems to use 292x224 instead. (127.75 kB)

Edit: VR Deluxe actually seems to have the same vertical resolution as SVP VR on the Genesis, that is: VR Deluxe uses 320x192, more clipped than necessary and only taking up 120 kB in the framebuffer. (Space harrier seem to be clipped to exactly 320x204 though)

Quanto, You sir are a GOD! A GOD I SAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously, Me and a friend used to spend some serious time on SS, I always demanded to be pilot, and stuck My friend with being gunner on the Feather II. It looks like You've done an excellent job capturing the game play mechanics and overall feel of the original right down to the HUD and that "Holy crap I'm in zero-G space combat!!!" feeling.
Will the game support analog controls?
What will the system requirements be?
Would it be possible to add force feedback to the game? (Imagine having the stick rattle when You throttle up, or slump sideways when You hit something!)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kool kitty89

That clipping is necessary for highcolor mode due to the limited framebuffer size of 128 kB; VR Deluxe uses 16-bit pixels in 320x204 resolution (that's 127.5 kB), while Shadow Squadron seems to use 292x224 instead. (127.75 kB)

---

SS cannot be 292x224... that's too big - there's not enough room for the line table. It's more probably 288x224. Remember that the line table consumes the first 512 bytes of the frame buffer. 288 also means you have a 16 pixel border on each side, which is much easier to handle than the borders needed for 292.

OK, I was checking by hand counting the pixels of the game window in fusion (set to square pixels and using the mouse pointer as refrence), but that's a bit tough, so I could easily have been off a bit. (I'm more confident of the vertical resolution values though -plus enabling scanlines makes it easier to see and count them) Still, it's an interesting choice to go with, it definitely seems to fill the screen quite well compared to vertical clipping alone.

Edit: I just checked again, and using that same crude method (albeit with the mouse speed turned down), it does indeed match the 288 pixel width. :)
With 320x204, you've got exactly 512 bytes left over, so not a problem there, of course. ;) Interesting that Virtua Racing Deluxe clipped it a fair bit more than necessary though, to the same 192 line vertical resolution as the Genesis port. Also interesting that Space Harrier seems to be in direct color mode (unless it's clipped to 204 lines for another reason), I would have thought that Space Harrier would have been fine in 256 color paletized graphics, they seem to have done that for After Burner Complete. (though Space Harrier's graphics do seem to look smoother than AB's in some respects, so maybe it did matter)

The easiest way to measure the resolution is to put the emu in windowed mode with a 1:1 display, then snapshot the desktop, load the snap into a paint program, and use the coords to see exactly how wide/tall the display is.

Yes SS was an excellent title for the 32X way better than SWA. Wish I could afford the Saturn version.

Figure I'll show off some of my recent work. At the moment I am working on reproducing the BoosterShip that was found in Missions 2 and 3 in SS.
Click for full size


Also I have had to take on the task of creating new ships not seen in the original game, both for the sake of variety. But also so that all factions have enough ships to create a sense of epic scale in the battles. As it stood, Shadow Squadron had only 2 friendly capships, and both were known only as "Ship A" and "Ship B".
In this PC remake, we've decided to rename "Ship A" as the Callisto Class, and "Ship B" as the Ganymede Class.
We've also had to come up with additional capships to protect Ship A and B, thusly we have a Frigate class known as the "Sinope" and a Light Cruiser called the "Hyperion".

This is the Latest Version of the Sinope (Its gone through a few remodels)
Click for full size


And this is a Concept sketch for the upcoming Remodel of "Ship B" now known as Ganymede.
Click for full size

Quanto why not make this for the 32X?

Well, the first (and best reason) is that I am not a programmer, and I lack the patience to create a game from scratch only to have it work on a console that only a small minority of gamers have or care about.

The second reason is to complete the "Series". By this I mean;
32x: Stellar Assault
Sega Saturn: Stellar Assault: SS
PC: Stellar Assault: FSO
I'm merely following the cycle Sega already established.

The third reason is that ever since Sega dropped out of the Console production business, I've pretty much stopped playing on Consoles altogether. Dreamcast was my last ever console, and I've gone exclusively to the PC.

Since then I've been a hard-core PC nut and I'll probably never go back to consoles. At the same time, I still yearn for the Sega Glory Days. And Stellar Assault was one of my all-time favorites. So from my point of view, remaking it for the PC is the best way to honor that memory. Give the game a full story, a full face-lift, and restore the gameplay to the way it was on the 32x (the Saturn version made a lot of changes to the way the ships controlled that kinda killed the game for me.)

So yeah, thats my explanation in a nutshell.

I do see what you are saying but as a Sega fan we have always been the small majority with the exception of the Genesis.

Stellar Assault (thanks Quanto!) seems a bit harder to me than Shadow Squadron. It seems they allow you more space to fly around in which can make the enemy harder to track and reach, but that is just my impression. I do like the large bars in Stellar Assault that tell you which direction the enemy is, however. And I do like using the L and R buttons on the Saturn pad to speed up and slow down vs the kind of awkward method used in the 32X game (I can only imagine how weird it must be with a 3 button pad). Still, Shadow Squadron was a very overlooked game for the 32X. Too bad Stellar Assault never made it out in the US. The high-res PC version looks great!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Joe Redifer

Stellar Assault (thanks Quanto!) seems a bit harder to me than Shadow Squadron. It seems they allow you more space to fly around in which can make the enemy harder to track and reach, but that is just my impression. I do like the large bars in Stellar Assault that tell you which direction the enemy is, however. And I do like using the L and R buttons on the Saturn pad to speed up and slow down vs the kind of awkward method used in the 32X game (I can only imagine how weird it must be with a 3 button pad). Still, Shadow Squadron was a very overlooked game for the 32X. Too bad Stellar Assault never made it out in the US. The high-res PC version looks great!

---

I honestly think the 32x Shadow Squadron was the better game. While the saturn version is texture-mapped, and the level design is pretty awesome. The poly count is actually lower on the Saturn version. Not only that, but the voice acting, while cool, is poorly implemented gameplay wise. (The game goes into auto-pilot and forces you to sit around twiddling your thumbs while the chit-chat goes on, they could have done the dialogue DURING the battles instead, but they didn't.) Its also useful to point out that the Saturn game was made by a different Dev team than the 32x. The 32x version was developed by the Anime Studio "Artmic" and actually shares mechanical designs with the anime OVA series "Gall Force". The Saturn Version was made by a Game studio called "Sims". I have no idea what other games they've made before or since.
The Saturn Version also lacks the "computer-aided-targeting" that the 32x version had, almost FORCING you to use the plasma missiles exclusively. The missions are also a bit shorter than the 32x ones (shocking I know, considering how short the 32x missions were.)
Those reasons above is kinda why I've went forward with remaking the game on PC. Using the gameplay style of the 32x and the level design of the Saturn and combining them both into one.

Yeah, all of the voice in the Saturn version gets annoying. It's like the developers tough "Ooo look we can use voice! Let's bring the gameplay to a standstill and use it... often!" It even takes a while to get in to the game the first time because of the unskippable voice. Some of them can be skipped, but not all.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Joe Redifer

Yeah, all of the voice in the Saturn version gets annoying. It's like the developers tough "Ooo look we can use voice! Let's bring the gameplay to a standstill and use it... often!" It even takes a while to get in to the game the first time because of the unskippable voice. Some of them can be skipped, but not all.

---

Too bad they didn't just use the voices to add to the atmosphere of the game (mainly), liek Silpheed did. Something like starblade would be an aweful example of that though. (really lame and annoying sounding -at least in english)

Alright guys, here's a fun little update. I did a bit of work, and here to show you some pretty shots of the IMPROVED feather1 Model (my 2nd remodel)
plus, the most epic ship in Shadow Squadron, the Ganeluza!

Improved Feather1 - SSF Skin
Click for full size



The Ganeluza
I can't wait to blow this thing up! :D
Click for full size

Click for full size

Click for full size


So guys, in general are these designs faithful to the original? What would YOU guys like to see in this PC version of Shadow Squadron?

I've never heard of the game, but I want you to know that this gamer Salutes you for your dedication:!:


http://www.clavius.org/img/as16-jump-salute.jpg



badass
:D

Looks good, but why those color choices in the recent image?

Do ships later in the game use those colors? (I haven't gotten that far into it yet)

Or does that just represent the custom palette options the 32x game supports?


@OldSchool
It's called Shadow Squadron in the US and is possibly the best game for the 32x (definitely the best for any who like flight sims/space shooters); I don't remember your preferences about emulation, but if you're not against it, I'd definitely try it out in Fusion. (otherwise look at youtube for Shadow Squadron or Stellar Assault -EU/JP title)

About the Colors:
At the moment, we are working out ways to fit the Custom Pallet options of the 32x Game INTO the game's story. For the moment the idea is this:
The SGN Faction (Solar Government Navy) is Blue
The SSF Faction (Synthesis Space Force) is Red
The Veslan (our Alien enemies) are using the Magenta Pallet

We also have 4 additional factions that play minor roles story wise, but make appearances throughout the campaign.
The Synthesis Civilian Branch (includes acceleration Gates, Booster Ships, Material Transports, and Gas Miners) are Green
The SGN Marine Corps (includes the Feather 3, some Feather 2s, and Marine Boarding Craft) are Orange
The Space Pirates (these guys use a mish-mash of equipment, and are fought only if you stick with the SSF story path) will probably use an assortment of color patterns.
Civilian Space Craft (think outerspace equivalents to Ocean Liners and Cruise Ships) will probably be white and an assortment of Prettiness.

The reason we've decided to make the Veslans Magenta instead of the Default Green is mostly my own personal taste and it is justified by the fact that the Ganeluza in the 5th Mission of the 32x Game is purple by default, along with the final super-laser in the last mission. In the Saturn Game, all of the aliens seem to have taken on the purple color scheme as well. AND if you look at the 32x Manual of the Japanese release, it too shows the alien ships as Magenta. So, I've made the personal decision to go with the Magenta pallet option for the Veslans.
For the SSF and SGN, its a matter of creating color scheme uniformity.

Here's the Blue version of the Feather1
Click for full size

Shadow Squadron, the 32X's best game (for me) combined with the most awesome space flight sim on the PC, Freespace 2?

Quanto, you sir, are awesome. Keep up the good work! Hopefully it all goes well with the project! Salutes from a Shadow Squadron and Freespace 2 fan!

Shadow Squadron just had a style to it that was very neo with the use of colors. I especially like the music quality to the game... This project is awsome.

Figure i'll give you guys some screenshot love. So you can see the progress of the actual game so far.

Here's some Feather2 ingame:
Click for full size

Click for full size

Hey there Feather2:
Click for full size

Some Delmmer gonna die:
Click for full size

Click for full size

Needs more Missiles:
Click for full size

Posting up a quick update here...
Stellar Assault FSO has reached its 33% completion mark. And we've released a new video showing off what we've gotten done so far.
We are also accepting testers now. So if anyone with a ballsy computer wants to offer their time as a tester (or even a contributer!) We will gladly accept what you can offer.

Here's our 33% Video:


Plus some pretty renders of a few of the spacecraft we've completed:
A select sampling of our game assets:
Click for full size


Click for full size


Click for full size


Click for full size


Click for full size


Our website:
http://stellarassault.fsmods.net/index.php
Our Moddb page:
http://www.moddb.com/games/stellar-assault-fso

This is some awesome work! :)

Quanto! Awesome! Shadow Squadron is easily my favorite 32X game, and probably my favorite game period from 1995-1998. In fact, Shadow Squadron is so well done when Colony Wars became my roomates' favorite game the only advantage I saw was the dialog-story.

Depending on your definition of "ballsy PC" I would love to test the PC MOD you're working on. I'll PM you about the Saturn version too. One thing I didn't see in the video was whether the Feather 1 allows you to fly through capital ship's weak points using the shield. This is a major gameplay component to me, sacrificing a little shield for blowing up a capital ship in one pass really made this game for me. Also, will Feather 2 feature 2-player pilot gunner options (including AI?).

Those unfortunately are two features that we really, really, really want to include. But the Freespace2 Engine simply doesn't allow it. We are currently working our way into the Hard-light Productions Community, so that we may get to the point were we can request major additions to the Source Code of the Engine. But for now, we are making the most of whats available. So yeah, the Buster Shield is not available, and a 2-Player Co-op in the Feather 2 will more than likely be an impossiblity. However, I did make a point of it in my early mod proposals...
Click for full size


Of course, since writing that, my dev team has downgraded the F2 from Space Superiority to Heavy Assault, but for the most part, everything in that concept sheet is impossible to do in the current engine. -_-

In all, it should be noted that we aren't trying to recreate the original gameplay on a modern machine. Rather, we are attempting to define a fresh style of gameplay inspired by the original, but is still different. And on top of that, integrate western storytelling into a very Japanese game.

Ah well, it seems like the MOD is going to be more inline with the more popular shooter engines anyway. I doubt very many people ever realized that the 32X game allowed the Feather 1 to destroy ships by flying through them. It's so unorthodox, actually, I couldn't find the ability in my brief time with the Saturn version either.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sheath

Quanto! Awesome! Shadow Squadron is easily my favorite 32X game, and probably my favorite game period from 1995-1998. In fact, Shadow Squadron is so well done when Colony Wars became my roomates' favorite game the only advantage I saw was the dialog-story.

---

Well SS/SA is a great game, but it's far simpler/shorter (more arcade length but with a cool sim style to it -vs Atar Wars Arcade's more limited gameplay), so well behind in general length/complexity alone from the Colony Wars games from what I've seen (haven't played though the CW games yet, but they look more competitive with full complex PC space sims like the X-Wing, Freespace, or WC series), and then there's the graphics and sound. :p

If SS had had a 2-player vs mode (or modes), let alone a proper split screen co-op game: that would seriously sway me considerably due to lack of such features on contemporaries. (even if a significant framerate and/or detail drop occurred for split screen)
Hell, that's something the Rogue Squadron games didn't even get until Rebel Strike, and X-Wing not until the 1997 X-Wing vs Tie. (Wing Commander had it in '94 with Armada -rather like the later initial XvT release it was totally multiplayer/combat wave oriented without a tour/career mode -but with combat scenarios as well as straight wave unpon wave dogfights)

I mostly enjoyed the diversity in gameplay that allowed me to create my own strategies. Once I realized that I could play the game with Feather 1 and blast most of the capital ships as I approached, only to destroy them by flying through them I was hooked.

I had a decent amount of fun playing 2-Player with friends, but never found anybody who wanted to coordinate enough to allow for single pass destruction.

Then there was the full game replay, oh how I worked to get my gameplay time down within the limit. I plan to post a video of the full game replay at some point. I've been stingy on buying a capture card that I know will work with the Genesis output and Windows 7.

The 2-player mode is pretty weak... not as useful as with Star Wars arcade let alone Soul Star. (in the latter case it helps a lot due to the complex controls with single player in the hover sections)

Kook Kitty, why do you have to be such a downer. Always bursting our nostalgia bubbles.

Ultimately, what it comes down to is this. For me, the biggest reason to play Stellar Assault, and to remake it, was the fact that these ships are all designed by the same guy who did the vehicle designs for a ton of famous anime, Robotech and Megazone 23, and my all time favorite, Gall Force.

I mean these fighters just scream style, they're sleek, bright, and beautiful. No box-ships in this game. And lets face it, SA/SS is better than you are giving it credit for, because, well, its getting remade on PC, and Colony Wars isn't.

Yeah, it isn't just nostalgia for me, Shadow Squadron is one of a kind. I've played tons of space ship shooters, and none of them emphasize speed and strategy against an armada of capital ships like Shadow Squadron does.

Also, the pilot gunner 2-Player mode would be identical to Star Wars Arcade if the pilot had a crosshair too. But that takes away from the cooperation. My roommate and I used to play through the game over and over in that mode jamming to Offspring. I don't think we ever got the play time short enough to see the full replay, but we got close.

With Colony Wars one of us just had to sit and watch. Since it was just a linear mission based game, and there wasn't the potential for creating some awesome replay scenes, it got boring to watch quickly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Quanto

Kook Kitty, why do you have to be such a downer. Always bursting our nostalgia bubbles.

Ultimately, what it comes down to is this. For me, the biggest reason to play Stellar Assault, and to remake it, was the fact that these ships are all designed by the same guy who did the vehicle designs for a ton of famous anime, Robotech and Megazone 23, and my all time favorite, Gall Force.

I mean these fighters just scream style, they're sleek, bright, and beautiful. No box-ships in this game. And lets face it, SA/SS is better than you are giving it credit for, because, well, its getting remade on PC, and Colony Wars isn't.

---

Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great game, and I think this project is great (a lot of these Freespace 2 based hombrews are interesting -Shadows of Lylat comes to mind, but still in development and I know there was a BSG fan game), but that wasn't the context of it.
I love space sims (and flight sims in general) and I definitely think Shadow Squadron is the best game on the 32x and unique in some ways, but I was disagreeing about it being "better" than Colony Wars or contemporaries.
It's different in style in many ways (far more arcade like in some respects) but the gameplay is totally up to personal opinion. (the graphics/sound is a more finite argument)

That's all I meant to say. ;)

But yeah, this project looks very promising.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sheath

Yeah, it isn't just nostalgia for me, Shadow Squadron is one of a kind. I've played tons of space ship shooters, and none of them emphasize speed and strategy against an armada of capital ships like Shadow Squadron does.

---

Yeah, not too many space sims that really focus on battling capital ships so prominently, but I think that may end up largely due to varied missions. The speed of SS is obviously due to the more arcade style thus making you a bit overpowered compared to other games where you need a prolonged coordinated attack to take down big capital ships as they're much harder to take down. (even the cruisers and corvettes in X-Wing are quite tough)

Crimson skies came to mind when you mentioned that though with the significant aspect of Dirigible combat in that game while managing dogfights with other planes concurrently, but even then it's a more drawn-out and involved conflict in that case.

The Rougue Squadron games are far more arcade like in that respect too, but there are few real encounters with capital ships as such, though more so in the sequels where it does become rather like Shadow Squadron to some extent. (some parts of Rebel Strike in particular) And in the first game the devastators in the final level have a similar feel as well.

Quote:

---

Also, the pilot gunner 2-Player mode would be identical to Star Wars Arcade if the pilot had a crosshair too. But that takes away from the cooperation. My roommate and I used to play through the game over and over in that mode jamming to Offspring. I don't think we ever got the play time short enough to see the full replay, but we got close.

---

That reminds me of the silly mechanics of thunder force IV's 2-player option... I got to try that out recently and it's an interesting challenge, but doesn't add much to the gameplay. (true cooperative multiplayer is much more fun, like in Raiden or Vapor Trail) It was honestly more fun to watch someone play single player than screwing around with that weird 2p option. ;)

Quote:

---

With Colony Wars one of us just had to sit and watch. Since it was just a linear mission based game, and there wasn't the potential for creating some awesome replay scenes, it got boring to watch quickly.

---

OK, but what does that really mean for a single player game? Though the nature of back seat gaming (so to speak) varies a lot and I generally enjoyed watching my dad play through tons of games growing up. (especially adventure games -graphic/point and click or 3D- but also several FPSs and survival horror games)
True cooperative multiplayer is just a step ahead of that, especially in the case of FPSs... Serious Sam LAN play at home, good times. ;)

There are next to no games in the genre that allow cooperative multiplayer at all though, so that's the primary issue and something that Shadow Squadron only addresses as much as BC Racers on the Sega CD does. (at least SWA adds an advantage with 2 players even if it's not really necessary, but Soul Star in particular gets considerably more playable with a 2nd person aiming for the hover sections -helicopter controls suck for aiming... that game's difficulty reminds me of Incoming :p)

I think the thing that bugs me the most is the fact that you seem to keep bringing up Star Wars Arcade. Which compared to SA/SS is total crap. Seriously, the controls were clunky, the ships looked like grey blobs on screen, the whole game was on rails.

The difference in quality and attention to detail between SA/SS and SWA is staggering. I'm sorry, but a Colony Wars was a genuinely good game worth bringing up. SWA was licensed garbage.

I agree with the above wholeheartedly. Both in the sense that I think Star Wars Arcade is basically garbage and that Colony Wars was a good game for what it was. On the later, I mainly wanted to point out that Shadow Squadron had serious gameplay advantages that apparently even the Saturn version doesn't share.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Quanto

I think the thing that bugs me the most is the fact that you seem to keep bringing up Star Wars Arcade. Which compared to SA/SS is total crap. Seriously, the controls were clunky, the ships looked like grey blobs on screen, the whole game was on rails.

The difference in quality and attention to detail between SA/SS and SWA is staggering. I'm sorry, but a Colony Wars was a genuinely good game worth bringing up. SWA was licensed garbage.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sheath

I agree with the above wholeheartedly. Both in the sense that I think Star Wars Arcade is basically garbage and that Colony Wars was a good game for what it was. On the later, I mainly wanted to point out that Shadow Squadron had serious gameplay advantages that apparently even the Saturn version doesn't share.

---

I agree in general too, SWA has pretty shallow gameplay by comparison and it's not even a very good un-rails shooter compared to Star Fox or Panzer Dragoon IMO. (or Soul Star, Space Harrier, etc) I think I like it more than Rebel Assault though. (it's not fully on-rails either, sort of an odd hybrid with limited perspective, like the "all range mode" in Star Fox 64, or being on the surface in Star Fox 2 -the space areas in SF2 are pretty much full 3D control)

Again I' not intimately familiar with Colony Wars so I'll concede that point as it stands, but I was thinking along the lines of other space sims of the time too.